Notices by Strypey (strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz), page 88

@certifiedperson for sure. Migrating is a real hassle in the current fediverse. #NomadicIdentity is one thing that attracts me to apps that support #Zot (Hubzilla, Osada, Zap etc). Besides, we don't want all the kiwis on one instance. What if someone decides to take us all out ;-P
@dch @natecull

@dch I agree that reverse-engineering freedom-respecting experiences is already at peak, if not past it. RMS has spoken recently about how the ability to install postmarket OS might be on the decline on the desktop. It's already very limited on mobile devices. The point I'm making is that if we can *prove* there's a significant demand for something (not just hope or claim), then any company, no matter how self-interested, is going to be more open to providing products that fulfil that demand.

@z428 @devurandom good thoughts, both of you. But we've drifted a bit from my pitch, which was to educate people about #UX #DarkPatterns. Like getting access to a user's address book for one purpose, then using it to spam their contacts with an invite to the service, in the name of the user. Or asking for permissions the app has no legitimate reason to need, but that the dev knows they can use for datafarming, because most people don't yet know to check or control app permissions.

@adfeno doesn't Mate use its own variant of GTK, forked from #GNOME2.0? Hmm. I could be going off half-cocked here. Maybe the author of the article I linked meant "GNOME 3.0" not "GTK"? Anyone able to shed some light on the nitty-gritty details of this?

@noorul see:
https://mastodon.nzoss.nz/@strypey/101438076956136893

@joshim again, it depends on your use case. What's your #ThreatModel? ie what's the worst that could happen if someone knows which videos your friends are watching? If you want to share videos privately, with a known group of people, a synch service like #NextCloud might be a better option. We know that PT can leak IP addresses because it uses WebTorrent. I don't know if anyone actually tested MG for IP leaks, so that's something to keep in mind, and maybe check out.

'Forking' the #fediverse article from #Wikipedia onto another #MediaWiki instance (#P2PF) results in a mess full of redlinks, and a broken table, whether I copy from the view page, or the edit page. There's got to be an easier way to do this! Some way of combining some of the portability concepts of the #SmallestFederatedWiki into MediaWiki?

@bob as with both privacy and security, #SoftwareFreedom is not a black/white binary. There's a spectrum of options, and every point along it has some tradeoffs. The key thing is that if we all try to trend towards greater freedom (and privacy, and security) in our individual practice, this sets the foundations for making it easier to go futher later on. At all times we have to understand the implications of the tradeoffs we (or our suppliers) have made, and act accordingly.
@Jason_Dodd

@bob my thoughts exactly. If the device you have works with #Heads, why use #Tails? If it works with #Trisquel or vanilla #Debian, why use #Ubuntu? The whole problem with blobs is that we have no idea what that code actually is, or what it might be doing. It's not #FreeCode, and it can't be openly audited.
@resist__berlin @Jason_Dodd

@resist__berlin sure, that's an option. I've found it difficult to get installed using a USB, but I haven't tried for a while. I'm actually planning a Debian install soon to see if the roadblocks I hit last time have been cleared yet. I guess the advantages of Trisquel for me are:
* the default DE is Mate, so I don't have to manually install and troubleshoot a lightweight DE
* the default web browser tends to be more up-to-date and have saner anti-tracking defaults OOTB than many distros.

@noorul @joshim AFAIK that's also a concern with any other tech that uses #BitTorrent protocols. If it's something you're concerned about, I guess you can use a #VPN? Or maybe #Tor?

@LWFlouisa that's a little bit misleading. MG instance aren't actually part of the fediverse yet AFAIK. @cwebber might be able to share more up-to-date news on the prospects of MG implementing #ActivityPub and joining the fed.
@joshim

@joshim it depends what you want to use it for. The main differences are;
* #MediaGoblin supports any type of media, including audio, photos, documents, slideshows, and so on. #PeerTube is just for videos.
* MG instances are stand-alone. You can only find media via searching on the instance its hosted on or a web search. PT supports #ActivityPub, so your videos can be found via searching on other instances, and #WebTorrent, so if one of your videos goes viral, it won't #SlashDot your instance ;)

#Lubuntu are switching from the discontinued #LXDE desktop to its replacement, #LXQT, from 18.10 onwards:
https://betanews.com/2018/07/30/ubuntu-linux-lubuntu-old-lxqt/

They have also announced they are dropping support for 32-bit PCs from 19.04 onwards:
https://betanews.com/2018/12/21/lubuntu-linux-32bit/

So 18.04 LTS is the last version of Lubuntu that can be recommended for use with older PCs. #Trisquel 9 will be based off 18.04 LTS, and I presume #Mate will remain the default desktop. Trisquel 8 is what I run (for now) on an ancient 32-bit Acer netbook

Obviously to work, it would have to be a bit sneaky. So to avoid suspicion of being actually exploitative (instead of simulating it for educational purposes), the project could work with user rights groups like the #FSF and #EFF behind the scenes, and allow both its code and servers to be audited by people from those orgs before going live.

I'm envisioning a user education project that masquerades as a new #SiliconValley startup, with a website and mobile apps. It would implement every design #antipattern used by typical startups, like asking for access to contact lists on other services to help users "find your friends", asking for every permission available on a mobile during install etc. But instead of exploiting these, it would email the user, explaining all the ways the information they gave could have been used to do so.

"Fighting oppression is far more serious than professional work ..." - Richard Stallman
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-call-it-the-swindle.en.html

Everyone working directly on Collaborate is a volunteer, but "there are just a few ... base costs that you can't pay for with volunteering, things like accounting software"
#WTF? Why are charities paying for accounting software? On what planet does it make any sort of sense for a volunteer-run charity to be cross-subsidizing the expenses and profits of proprietary #SaaSS accounting platforms?!?

Would it be possible to fund a scientific survey on how many people would buy a 100% free-as-in-freedom computer (desktop, mobile, TV, e-reader etc) if it was a ) available in a local shop, b) everything just worked out-of-the-box, and c) the #UX was not only as good, but better, than a proprietary OS? With solid numbers on demand, it might be easier to convince hardware companies to sell #RespectsYourFreedom compatible components. #FSF? #FSFE? #SFLC? #SFC? #OSI #EFF?

Yet another reason that #GNOME is only useful to a limited number of users with newer / more powerful PCs is it's dependence on #GTK:
"GTK requires hardware acceleration for animations"
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/12/a-tour-of-elementary-os-perhaps-the-linux-worlds-best-hope-for-the-mainstream/

... which means if your device doesn't do hardware acceleration for graphics, or #Linux drivers don't support it on your device, GNOME is going to use huge chunks of your system resources on animations. Unless you turn them off, in which case why not use a lighter DE in the first place?